Cafe Romance (9 page)

Turning off the car, he gave up his protest and followed her solemnly back into the house and into her bedroom.

“Look. I love you Leslie. I can’t help it.”

“I know,” she managed to say in a weak and tremulous whisper.

The two removed their shoes and crawled onto the bed.

After a while, he gave her a stimulating massage, and in an effort to make the most out of the situation, she allowed herself to succumb to his advances. After all, the two understood now that these were nothing more than booty calls for her. And perhaps a night out on the town. At least she didn’t think there was more to this. Whatever he thought was his problem.

Y
vette peered upward through her long lashes at him. “I don’t believe this one bit. I was just here months ago and was told all I needed was $15,000 down for the $60,000 small business loan. And now that I am here with the fifteen grand, you’re telling me I need twenty up front!”

The slightly embarrassed loan officer shuffled nervously through a pile of paperwork on his desk as he tried to explain the bank’s new policy on small business loans. “I’m truly sorry, Miss Roberts. I do remember talking to you about this. And what I told you then was correct. But we are under new management and as such, a $60,000 small business loan will now require you to put up $20,000 of your own money. It’s the economy, I’m afraid.”

Yvette was livid. And beyond words of decency. “Look, what do I have to put down if I ask for a $40,000 business loan?’

“I’m sorry. We no longer finance anything under $60,000.”

“Look Mr. Vanwrinkler,” she said, looking briefly at his nameplate, “Never mind…I’ve just decided to take my business elsewhere. Thank you for your time.”

The loan officer rose up wearing an apologetic expression on his face.

“Please don’t bother,” she said, turning to face him. “I’ll find my way out.”

That night she spoke to Juanita over the phone. “Can you believe this shit, Juanita?”

“It’s that glass ceiling I told you about. You’re a minority and you’re a woman.”

“Well, nothing is going to keep me from opening my own restaurant. I’ll raise the whole $60,000 if I have to,
dammit
!”

“Hey girlfriend, maybe you haven’t noticed, but you’re starting to sound like me.”

“I know. God, I usually don’t swear. But I’m mad as hell. It will take me nine months to a year to save up five more grand.”

“Hey, you can always hook up with some rich handsome man and get him to loan you the money.”

“Hell, he’d better be thinking a lot more than a loan when it comes to my good loving.”

Juanita chuckled. “I thought you weren’t looking for love.”

“Well, I’m not. But if that’s what it will take to get my business started, then I will leave that option open.”

“So $60,000 is what it’s going to take to get you to finally give up that booty?”

“Who said I was going to give up anything?” Yvette replied with a smile.

“I don’t know one man, rich or poor, who gives up that kind of financing and not expect something in return.”

“You’re probably right. How ‘bout standing in for me when it comes to payback time?” Yvette teased.

“Be careful, now. Your sugar daddy gets a taste of this good loving and he may forget all about you.”

“I’m not worried as long as I can convince him that what I’ve got is a lot sweeter. Not that this means he should expect to get any.”

“Gal, you’re too cold-blooded for me.”

More seriously, Yvette said, “You know, all I want to do Juanita is go into business for myself. That’s all.”

“I know,” Juanita said. “Just hang in there a little bit longer, sweetie.”

K
urt handed Dwayne a cold drink out of the refrigerator. He had offered him a sandwich so he would not have to eat alone but Dwayne declined saying that he already had lunch with an old friend.

“So how was the training? And how long have you been back in town?” Kurt asked.

“Training was fine. I got that new turbo-engine system down, cous,” Dwayne chuckled. “As far as being back. It’s been about three weeks.”

“You should have called me to let me know you had returned.”

“You know how it is when you’re away. You were in the Navy. First week back on the scene, the wife and family keeps you busy with a backlog of things. This thing needs to be fixed, that thing needs to be repaired, the car isn’t acting right, the ice-maker isn’t working, and so on.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean.”

“So, how are things with you and Leslie? I thought you two would be back together by now.”

“I’m still working on it. But I’m not sure if I’m having any luck with it.”

Dwayne gave his cousin a thoughtful expression. “Listen, there are several ways to get Leslie to return to you, provided she is still in love with you.”

“I’m listening,” Kurt said.

“Let me rephrase this. One of my ideas is a sure fire bet that she’s still in love with you. The other one may result in her return but it may not prove she is still in love with you.”

“Well go ahead and tell me, man,” Kurt said, his deep voice resonating with impatience, his mind working overtime.

“To determine if she still loves you, start dating other women and let word get back to her. If she is still carrying a torch for you, she’ll run back home.”

“What about your other idea?” Kurt asked, hunching over, his arms resting on his thighs.

“I don’t know about now but if you had won that Mega Lotto,” Dwayne began. ”I have no doubt, she would have returned to you and in a flash. Don’t worry, though. There will be another big jackpot somewhere down the road.”

“Hey, you’re probably right, although if I had won, she’d only be returning because of the money,” Kurt noted.

“That’s the downside of that particular idea,” Dwayne said. “But you’d have to admit, you’d have your wife back.”

Kurt nodded his head thoughtfully and leaned back into his chair. He grabbed the can of soda and took another swallow. “Lucky bastards, whoever it is who won that jackpot.”

“Yeah. Actually, I heard that there were two winners, one from Ohio and one from Philadelphia,” Dwayne broke in. “I also heard that only the Ohio winner came forward to claim his prize money.”

“Is that right?” Kurt murmured. “And what about the Philadelphia winner?”

“To my knowledge, they never came forward,” Dwayne answered.

“That’s crazy,” Kurt said. “I wonder what they are waiting for.”

“I don’t know but they are probably running out of time to claim their winnings,” Dwayne said matter-of-factly. “By the way, did you even come close? Did any of your numbers match?”

“Hell, I don’t remember if I ever checked them.”

“You never checked your numbers?” Dwayne said incredulously.

“Well, after hearing that the winners were from Ohio and Philadelphia, I didn’t bother to check my ticket. I mean, I should have since I might have gotten the next group of numbers right. After all, a couple thousand dollars sounds good.”

“Yeah, you can never know about these things. You could have matched five or six numbers and we could have gotten at least a few grand out of it.”

“What do you mean
we
?” Kurt chuckled. “Anyway, I think it would take more than a few thousand dollars to get Leslie to come back home.”

“You’re probably right,” Dwayne said, gulping the rest of his soda down. “She is kind of expensive in taste.”

“You bet. Look, I’ll check on it later,” Kurt promised. “So how’s the wife doing?”

“Jacqui is doing fine. Been cooking up a storm since I returned home.”

“Good for you. I miss her good cooking, too,” Kurt confessed. “I’m growing tired of microwave dinners.”

“I know what you mean,” Dwayne murmured, and then as if it were an afterthought, he said, “Hey cous, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah. What?”

“Did you just say that you’d check your lotto ticket numbers later?”

“That’s what I said.”

Dwayne leaned forward in the chair. “That’s what I thought you said. That means you still have the ticket, right?”

“I believe so, why?”

“Listen cous. What I failed to tell you was that I bought our lotto tickets in Philadelphia the weekend before heading back into Jersey.”

Kurt grew thoughtful. His mind began to race.

“Dwayne! Are you saying that you didn’t buy it here in Jersey, as I originally thought?” Kurt asked, rising slowly out of the chair.

“That’s what I’m saying, cous!”

“That means that my ticket could possibly be…no, it can’t be possible.”

“I doubt it, too, but you never know. Now where is it? You sure you still have it?”

“It’s somewhere in the bedroom,” Kurt replied as he became anxious.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go look for that baby!” Dwayne bellowed.

Like a possessed soul, Kurt sprinted into the bedroom and hastily shuffled through a pile of paperwork on his desk but the ticket was not there. He glanced about the room and twice before darting over to his dresser. Not there. He finally found the ticket under some loose papers. Talk about hot property.

Dwayne joined him at his side.

The two immediately sat down and logged onto the Internet and Google the lotto website to look at the winning jackpot numbers for that date. Excitement permeated the room. Anticipation intensified each passing second.

Kurt squirmed in his chair as he anxiously read the numbers twice as Dwayne checked it against the ticket. The results stunned the two. The numbers matched!

“Man, I don’t believe this! I’ve won the lottery!” Kurt yelled as he leaped into the air. For a full three minutes, the two bounced about the room like two out of control Mexican jumping beans.

“I’ve got to call Jacqui, cous. She’ll never believe it either,” Dwayne shouted, panting like an exhausted marathon runner.

After he slammed the phone back inside of its cradle, the two shouted again and gave one another high-fives until they had reached the point of exhaustion. At that moment, they fell back onto the bed laughing, which collapsed from their combined weight.

“Hey, I think we broke your bed.”

“Who cares? I’ll just buy another one. Maybe two more,” Kurt laughed even louder.

“That’s right! We’re rich!” Dwayne bellowed.

“That’s right, cous!” Kurt affirmed. “By the way, how rich are we?”

“Try 50 million dollars

The two were beyond silly, and way beyond euphoria.

“Hey cous,” Kurt murmured, more soberly.

“Yeah.”

“It’s been over a month since the drawing. You think it’s too late for me to claim my winnings?”

“I think they give you at least a couple of months to claim large cash prizes. But we’ll find out,” Dwayne said in a reassuring tone.

“Yeah, I think you’re right.”

“Hate for you to be this damned close to becoming a millionaire only to miss out on a technicality. Anyway, what are you going to do with all of that money?”

“Everything!” he exclaimed. “However, I have kept a list of people I want to help out if I ever struck it rich. And now I have. I’m starting with you and Jacquie.”

“Why, thanks cous.”

Later the two stopped by a restaurant to grab some lunch. There they picked up their earlier conversation once their food arrived.

“Make no mistake, once Leslie hears about this she’ll come running back to you and before the ink is dried on the check. Believe me, she’ll beg you to take her back.”

Kurt’s face took on a subdued expression. “Cous, that’s not the way I want my wife to return to me. I want her to come back because she wants to come back. Not because I won the lottery.”

“Look, if money is not an issue, I’d gladly take all of that money off your hands. We wouldn’t want a few million dollars to come between you and your happiness,” Dwayne chuckled, then more deviously said, “You know, you don’t really have to tell her about your good fortune.”

Kurt broke into a smile but it was short-lived. “Nice try. But I don’t think I can do that to Leslie. Besides, how in the world do you think I could get away with that?”

Dwayne was incredulous and to the point of setting his sandwich back down on the plate.

“I’m waiting,” Kurt said.

“Look, it’s quite simple! Leslie and her family members all live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That’s where she’s from, right? She has no family members here in New Jersey. You could always ask our family members not to tell her anything about your winnings. Then you move out of state so she won’t have a reason to be hanging around here.”

“And what state or planet do you have in mind?” Kurt asked.

“I don’t know yet. But you’ll find one.”

“Look cous, I’m not sure about this.” But after reconsidering the plan, Kurt said, “But you know, this just might work. I mean, just temporarily.”

“It just may,” Dwayne added. “But how are you going to explain the house and the move? Once you sell the house you’re going to have to move. You’ll need her signature on any paperwork since the house is in both of your names. If she comes here she will probably catch word of your good fortune.”

“I’ll work that out. I don’t think she will have to come here for that. We can fax the paperwork to her for her signature. Then she can mail it back.”

“And what about your lifestyle? You’re going to have money to spend. Lots of it! A new lifestyle will certainly give you away.”

“Yeah, you do have a point there. I do want to upgrade our RV, trade it in for a newer model. The one I’ve always wanted is at least $250,000.”

“That would surely give you away. She’ll see it if she decides to return here to do the paperwork. You never know.”

“Hey, not unless I convince her otherwise.”

“Like how?”

“I could tell her that I traded up using the money from the trade-in of the older model RV that’s in my name and that would be the truth.”